1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile vehicle, and more particularly to a mobile vehicle including a distance detection unit that detects a distance to an obstacle.
2. Description of the Background Art
Recently, a mobile vehicle that autonomously moves, such as a transfer robot that transfers cargo or a surveillance robot that surveils a condition in a building, around a building, or in a predetermined site, has been used. In addition, an autonomous vehicle provided with a camera, various sensors, an arm, a boom, and the like may sometimes be used for searching sufferers in disaster areas struck by an earthquake, tsunami, a landslide, or the like or for activities of collecting information concerning the inside of a factory or a power plant where an accident has occurred in a dangerous area (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-111595).
The conventional autonomous vehicle described above has to preliminarily store map information and moving route information where the vehicle should travel, and to safely travel on a predetermined route, while avoiding an obstacle, by utilizing information acquired from a camera, a distance detection device, and a GPS (Global Positioning System).
As a method for recognizing an obstacle around the autonomous vehicle, there is a method using LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, or Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) in which laser is emitted to a two-dimensional space or a three-dimensional space in a predetermined distance measurement region to measure distances at a plurality of measured points in the distance measurement region.
However, when a part of the autonomous vehicle protrudes in a scanning range of the LIDAR, a blind spot is created in the range where obstacle recognition is needed. Therefore, reliable obstacle recognition may not be implemented.